A History of Seafaring in the Classical World, first published in 1986, presents a complete treatment of all aspects of the maritime history of the Classical world, designed for the use of students as well as scholars. Beginning with Crete and Mycenae in the third millennium BC, the author expounds a concise history of seafaring up to the sixth century AD. The development of ship design and of the different types of ship, the varied purposes of shipping, and the status and conditions of sailors are all discussed. Many of the most important sea battles are investigated, and the book is illustrated with a number of line drawings and photographs. Greek and Latin word are only used if they are technical terms, ensuring A History of Seafaring in the Classical World is accessible to students of ancient history who are not familiar with the Classical languages.
A History of Seafaring in the Classical World, first published in 1986, presents a complete treatment of all aspects of the maritime history of the Classical world, designed for the use of students as well as scholars. Beginning with Crete and Mycenae in the third millennium BC, the author expounds a concise history of seafaring up to the sixth century AD. The development of ship design and of the different types of ship, the varied purposes of shipping, and the status and conditions of sailors are all discussed. Many of the most important sea battles are investigated, and the book is illustrated with a number of line drawings and photographs. Greek and Latin word are only used if they are technical terms, ensuring A History of Seafaring in the Classical World is accessible to students of ancient history who are not familiar with the Classical languages.
Providing a comprehensive examination of the capacity of ancient ships and seafarers to cope with seasonally changing sea conditions, this book draws on a wide range of ancient literary sources while also taking account of modern weather records, hydrological data, and recent archaeological discoveries. Taking a fresh look at the various ways in which seasonality affected maritime transport across the sea-lanes of the ancient world, this book offers new perspectives on the nature of seaborne trade, naval warfare and piratical operations. The result is a volume that questions many long-held scholarly assumptions concerning the strength and seaworthiness of ancient vessels, as well as the abilities of Greek and Roman mariners, to regularly undertake voyages across hazardous stretches of sea.
With contributions from scholars from around the world, this volume builds upon the American Academy in Rome's first volume on Rome's maritime life, "The Seaborne Commerce of Ancient Rome: Studies in Archaeology and History".
How important has the sea been in the development of human history? Very important indeed is the conclusion of this ground-breaking four volume work. The books bring together the world's leading maritime historians, who address the question of what difference the sea has made in relation to around 250 situations ranging from the earliest times to the present. They consider, across the entire world, subjects related to human migration, trade, economic development, warfare, the building of political units including states and empires, the dissemination of ideas, culture and religion, and much more, showing how the sea was crucial to all these aspects of human development. The Sea in History - The Early Modern World covers the period from around the end of the fifteenth century up to the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. It examines the establishment and growth of 'the Atlantic World', but also considers maritime developments in the Indian Ocean, Southeast and East Asia and Africa, and highlights the continuing importance of the North Sea and the Baltic. A very wide range of maritime subjects is explored including trade, which went through a huge global expansion in this period; fishing; shipping, shipbuilding, navigation and ports; the role of the sea in the dissemination of religious ideas; the nature of life for sailors in different places and periods; and the impact of trade in particularly important commodities, including wine, slaves, sugar and tobacco. One particularly interesting chapter is on the Hanse, the important maritime commercial 'empire' based in north Germany, which extended much more widely than is often realised and whose significance and huge impact have often been overlooked. 33 of the contributions are in English; 42 are in French. CHRISTIAN BUCHET is Professor of Maritime History, Catholic University of Paris, Scientific Director of Océanides and a member of l'Académie de marine. GÉRARD LE BOUDEC is Emeritus Professor of the University of South Brittany.
Written by the renowned authority on ancient ships and seafaring Lionel Casson, The Ancient Mariners has long served the needs of all who are interested in the sea, from the casual reader to the professional historian. This completely revised edition takes into account the fresh information that has appeared since the book was first published in 1959, especially that from archaeology's newest branch, marine archaeology. Casson does what no other author has done: he has put in a single volume the story of all that the ancients accomplished on the sea from the earliest times to the end of the Roman Empire. He explains how they perfected trading vessels from mere rowboats into huge freighters that could carry over a thousand tons, how they transformed warships from simple oared transports into complex rowing machines holding hundreds of marines and even heavy artillery, and how their maritime commerce progressed from short cautious voyages to a network that reached from Spain to India.
This study in environmental anthropology explores the physical geography and sailing conditions of ancient Greece and the Mediterranean region, the seafaring practices of the ancient Greeks, and, more generally, the interrelationships between human activity, technology and the physical environment.
A monumental retelling of world history through the lens of maritime enterprise, revealing in breathtaking depth how people first came into contact with one another by ocean and river, lake and stream, and how goods, languages, religions, and entire cultures spread across and along the world’s waterways, bringing together civilizations and defining what makes us most human. Lincoln Paine takes us back to the origins of long-distance migration by sea with our ancestors’ first forays from Africa and Eurasia to Australia and the Americas. He demonstrates the critical role of maritime trade to the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley. He reacquaints us with the great seafaring cultures of antiquity like those of the Phoenicians and Greeks, as well as those of India and Southeast and East Asia, who parlayed their navigational skills, shipbuilding techniques, and commercial acumen to establish thriving overseas colonies and trade routes in the centuries leading up to the age of European expansion. And finally, his narrative traces how commercial shipping and naval warfare brought about the enormous demographic, cultural, and political changes that have globalized the world throughout the post–Cold War era. This tremendously readable intellectual adventure shows us the world in a new light, in which the sea reigns supreme. We find out how a once-enslaved East African king brought Islam to his people, what the American “sail-around territories” were, and what the Song Dynasty did with twenty-wheel, human-powered paddleboats with twenty paddle wheels and up to three hundred crew. Above all, Paine makes clear how the rise and fall of civilizations can be linked to the sea. An accomplishment of both great sweep and illuminating detail, The Sea and Civilization is a stunning work of history.
This book uses network ideas to explore how the sea connected communities across the ancient Mediterranean. We look at the complexity of cultural interaction, and the diverse modes of maritime mobility through which people and objects moved. It will be of interest to Mediterranean specialists, ancient historians, and maritime archaeologists.
